Grading Bryce Underwood's performance through 9 games

However, despite the Wolverines having an explosive running game and being in the top 20 in the nation in yards per play, the offense as a whole has left plenty of points on the board. Part of that has to do with Underwood's receivers dropping passes in key situations, and kicker Dominic Zvada has missed a few chip shot field goals this season as well.

But another part of it has to do with Underwood just not being able to find a rhythm in certain games—particularly in Michigan's last two against Michigan State and Purdue, which are two teams not known to have good pass defenses.

In each of the past two wins, Underwood has had several instances where he has bailed from the pocket too early, and other cases where he is missing open receivers, either due to poor accuracy or not seeing the coverage correctly.

Those are things offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and the coaching staff can help him with during the bye. When Underwood has hung in the pocket and trusts his protection, he has made several good throws down the field in certain games this season.

Due to injuries at offensive line, part of Underwood's willingness to want to bail the pocket could have to do with him knowing he has a young offensive line (partly due to injuries to left tackle and right guard) in front of him—an offensive line that has proven to be elite in run blocking but is still a work in progress in pass protection.

Whatever the case may be, the Wolverines will have to take a look at what's going on in the passing game and have a plan to get Underwood comfortable running this offense again going into the final stretch of the season.

Grading Underwood's performance

When analyzing Underwood's performance, everything has to be taken into account when considering what are realistic expectations for a true freshman QB playing under an offensive coordinator who is coaching in his first season with the Maize and Blue, and an offense that has a lot of young pieces overall.

I'm sure Michigan fans would like to see Underwood have thrown for more touchdown passes up to this point (he has seven so far), but the Wolverines also haven't had a receiver or tight end to step up to show they can make contested catches in the red zone either.

While it would be nice to see more touchdown passes thrown, the fact of the matter is, outside of the Purdue game last week, he has been good about taking care of the football and not putting it in harm's way too often, which is oftentimes an issue for freshmen QBs who are eager to make plays.

At the end of the day, it's still Underwood's job to help the team play complementary football and put the team in position to win football games, and for the most part, he has done his job in that regard and given Michigan a chance down the stretch to accomplish some major goals.

In order for the Wolverines to run the table down the stretch, he will certainly need to step his game up compared to what he has put out the last two weeks, but it's also important he stays within himself and doesn't start pressing. Because the fact of the matter is, the Wolverines' running game and defense are both good enough to keep them in games while Underwood continues to figure things out.

Grade: B-